194 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



mausoieuni* is the object of perpetual attention, and exhibits a constant fresh- 

 ness." To him — the " inspired peasant," " the poet of the people" — posthumous 

 honours have been most liberally awarded : a fair monument is raised to him on 

 the " Braes of Doon ;" a noble statue, from the chisel of Flaxman, stands in 

 Edinburgh : Burns-clubs celebrate his birth-day in the chief towns and cities 

 of Britain : on the banks of the Amazon, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the 

 Indus, and the Ganges, his name is annually invoked and his songs sung. 

 Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Campbell, have celebrated him in verse ; statues 

 are made from his chief characters ; pictiu'es are painted from his ■s'ivid dehnea- 

 tions : even the rafters of AUoway-kirk have been carved into ornaments for the 

 necks of ladies, and quaighs for the hands of men. Such is the influence of 

 genius.-f To that geni\is Burns' last biographer has done ample justice. 



Following the order of illustrations, our next subject carries us from the 

 Banks of the Nith, and the tomb of Burns, to the stronghold of the Border 

 outlaw — the laird of ' Gilknockie Ha.' The scenery of the EskJ is proverbial 

 for its beauty ; and that portion of it which surrounds this ancient tower pre- 

 sents one of the most picturesque landscapes in the kingdom. The building 

 consists of an oblong square, the area of which measures sixty feet by forty-six, 

 with a height of nearly seventy-two — the usual proportions of these frontier 

 ■peels, already described, the security of which consisted, not in breadth of base, 

 but in the height and massive strength of the walls. At the east and west 

 angles it is furnished with turrets and loopholes, from which the freebooter and 

 his retainers could precipitate their destructive missiles against any assailant who 

 sought plunder or " restitution of property." In such cases liquid lead, boiling 

 water, and stones discharged like shot from the battlements, were generally the 

 first expressions of salutation vouchsafed to any suspicious guest, who might have 

 rashly trusted to his " spear for a passport." 



The last raid of this celebrated freebooter is matter of histoiy, and afibrds a 

 tragi-dramatic picture of the times. When James the Fifth undertook his famous 



• Burns was originally buried at the north-east corner of this cemetery ; but after having lain there 

 nineteen years, his remains were translated, in June 1815, to the spot where the monument now stands. 

 This ceremony was accompanied with many interesting circumstances, which are minutely recorded in the 

 liericdicals of the day. When removed, the coffin was found partly dissolved away ; but the dark curling 

 locks of the poet were as glossy, and seemed as fresh, as on the day of his death. The funeral of the poet's 

 widow, which took place here about three years ago, was one of the most impressive scenes ever witnessed 

 in the precincts of St. Michael's. 



t Allan Cunningham's " Life of Burns," vol. i. London, 1834. 



J The debateable land, a perpetual source of contention between the two kingdoms, lay between the 

 rivers Sark and Esk. In 1552 it was divided by a commission of both nations ; the upper or western part 

 assigned, by mutual consent, to Scotland, and the lower to England. 



